US stock market opens lower

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The U.S. stock market opened lower on Thursday with a decline in the stock values of technology companies.

The Dow Jones lost 69 points to begin the day at 23,088 points. The index finished Wednesday at a record high level of 23,157 points.

The S&P 500 fell 7 points to start trading at 2,553 points, and the Nasdaq was down 42 points to open at 6,582.

Entertainment and online streaming company Netflix saw its stock price fall 1.8 percent at the first bell. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group also saw a decline, with it stocks going down 1.7 percent.

The positive data of initial jobless claims could not help the market avoid losses at the opening.

The number of individuals in the U.S. who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time fell to 222,000 last week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced earlier in the day. This marked the lowest level since 1973.